Quality or Quantity - POR Riverside or Contemporary?

My question to OP: have you ever stayed in a motel room with your family for 12 days before? It gets old. Think about that; all sharing one bathroom, no kitchen and no laundry. This isn't an advert for DVC though. Those have no appeal to me on vacation, but think about the length of time all watching the same TV with lots of Stacy 24/7. We don't do Disney over 8 nites anymore. Just something else to consider.

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We have stayed 14 nights before, but we don't spend a lot of time in the room, just sleeping and bathroom. And what's wrong with too much Stacy?

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OP, this depends on the individual needs of your family. How many of you and what are the ages?
Also, will you be on one of the dining plans?
I ask because for my family of 5+infant who like sit down and character dinners, we would find it more of a hassle to stay at a mod. It would mean double the time on busses, folding up strollers, etc. Plus we would have more space in a deluxe room.
Can you compromise by pricing out either an Epcot resort or Wilderness Lodge?

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We (myself, wife and 14yr old daughter) will be on the regular dining plan - works better financially for us. Also hoping for FD next Sept. WL is not out of the question yet either.

tough... Our opinion is to always stay as long as possible but here are the issues...

POR: Must drive or bus to everything, if you want to go to the MK, Poly, FW, EPCOT or what ever you must drive or take a long bus ride...

CR: You can walk to the MK or Monorail to nearly everything else on the Monorail loop. Plus you can jump on a boat and go to WL or FW... You can also jump on the monorail and go over to the Poly or GF and watch Wishes...

I guess it really depends on how you do Disney. Do you go into the parks and stay there all day and then on non-park days you stay at the resort and swim/relax, then i would do POR and stay the longer time. But if you do the parks for a couple hours and then go look around someplace else then do the CR. This is how we do Disney. A couple hrs in the park then over to the GF/FW/WL or Poly to relax then back into the park for a couple more hours then back to BLT to swim and relax...

I would figure out how you want to do Disney and go from there.

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I guess we just dont share the same perspective ... we just came back from 2 weeks at POR staying in mansions, and other than one morning where we had an issue with a group staying at the resort it took us no longer then 20 mins from door to park, including the beautiful walk to south depot, waiting for the bus and the ride ... the rides are 10 mins or less. To me that is not a "long bus ride" ....

Go POR, our first trip was only 8 days ... getting towards 2 weeks makes it so much more relaxing, you can actually forget about real life because its not just lurking around the next weekend.

12 nights seems like a long time in one hotel room (and a long time at WDW). I think I'd go for a split stay if I were going for that long. Maybe stay at POR for 5 nights and then 5 nights at CR (or whatever combination of days works best). Maybe stay at one of them for part of the trip and then stay at a resort you've never stayed at before for the other part.

Another thought: CSR hasn't been mentioned, but a business class room there might be fun. It is a beautiful resort.

The way we do it, especially in September, is get there at rope drop, stay until early afternoon, then it's back to the hotel for a rest/swim. Then we go for dinner at the parks and stay til closing. That, in itself, would almost be worth staying at CR. Also being able to walk home past the masses at the bus stop after Wishes is a big plus.

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We do the exact same thing btw and had no problem getting to and from parks, even after wishes and illuminations. One of the best things about POR is that you can take either POR or POFQ busses at the end of the night.

BUT... we had no issues doing afternoons at the resort and then heading back for dinners and evening in parks.

As we decided this is a more relaxed stay we felt 10 nights at a moderate , POR would be better for our trip and touring style. While CR has the advantage of the monorail I think staying for only that convience would be a deal braker for me. As we will not be back for a long time a longer trip more days is much more important for us.

I can definitely see the pros of being on the monorail line also.

It is most definitely a personal choice based on what your trip needs and wants are. I'm always in the boat of more days is better , though if I had young children or limited time that convience may be a bigger factor.

I looked at youtube videos of the resorts and this greatly helped us confirm our choice.

Since your daughter is 14, I have to agree with the majority who say stay longer at POR. You have no strollers to fold up, no cranky kids on a crowded bus at the end of the night, and you will still have plenty of space in the room.

Easy! I vote longer stay at POR- although the convenience of CR is unbeatable, I personally do not care for the theming or the "vibe" of the resort and I just don't find that it has as much of that Disney "charm" that I love I'm staying at POR for the first time in October and I couldn't be more excited- it looks like a very beautiful, relaxing resort. Plus more time in Disney is always a good thing

Easy! I vote longer stay at POR- although the convenience of CR is unbeatable, I personally do not care for the theming or the "vibe" of the resort and I just don't find that it has as much of that Disney "charm" that I love I'm staying at POR for the first time in October and I couldn't be more excited- it looks like a very beautiful, relaxing resort. Plus more time in Disney is always a good thing

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You will love Riverside. We have stayed there twice with no complaints at all. Don't miss Yee Haw Bob!

It's the beauty of Riveride vs. the convenience of CR for me. Still torn...

Here is how I look at it, you MIGHT save 2-3 hours total in travel time staying at CR. 2 to 3 hours versus 5 days, I do not think I would have to think long about which one With everything going on during our normal busy lives that we do not get enough family time, so I actually like spending the whole time with my family.

I would definitely pick the longer stay at POR. We have stayed there twice and it's a great resort. Our last visit we went to the afternoon pool party. It was tons of fun. The recreation staff was great. The Yeehaw Bob show is also really fun.

I don't think the bus rides are long from POR. You have to bus to 2 parks from the CR also. If you are going to be spending a lot of time in the monorail area eating at resorts staying at the CR probably would be more convenient. We do most of our dining in the parks rather than resorts.

Only you know if you are going to miss staying Deluxe enough to go with a shorter trip. We have stayed Deluxe but to be honest we enjoy the mods as much. I love the short walk back to our BC room from Epcot but not enough to spend the extra money always.

Another vote for POR. POR is our favorite resort and you will not be disappointed in the "quality". The boat to DTD is a great option since bussing to DTD can be so frustrating. And once you get on a bus to MK, the drive is less than 10 minutes. MK is the closest park to POR. We also love the food court there, and love how spread out it is - at times we felt like the only ones at the resort!

If your alternative was CR or an All Star resort, my opinion might change. Nothing wrong with the All Stars but IMO, there is not as big of a jump from mod to deluxe so you won't be missing too much.

As we decided this is a more relaxed stay we felt 10 nights at a moderate , POR would be better for our trip and touring style. While CR has the advantage of the monorail I think staying for only that convience would be a deal braker for me. As we will not be back for a long time a longer trip more days is much more important for us.

I can definitely see the pros of being on the monorail line also.

It is most definitely a personal choice based on what your trip needs and wants are. I'm always in the boat of more days is better , though if I had young children or limited time that convience may be a bigger factor.

I looked at youtube videos of the resorts and this greatly helped us confirm our choice.

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Time is probably going to be a factor, and we plan on visiting the monorail restaurants frequently, so CR is the front runner for us. I was able to re-work the numbers and cut some corners, so it looks like we may be able to extend our stay to 10 days. That may have made our decision a little easier......hopefully!